2005/07/22

Alan Kay leaving HP: Good News for those not in HP

"A day after offering up a 'research will not be cut' declaration to its plans to trim its workforce by 14,500 employees ....... , HP did just that. In an e-mail sent to employees Wednesday morning, HP Labs Director Dick Lampman announced the cancellation of four of the company's research projects -- the Consumer Applications and Systems Laboratory, the Emerging Technologies Laboratory, the Cambridge Research Laboratory, which worked on health and wellness technology, and the Advanced Software Research team. In disbanding the last group, HP is bidding adieu to legendary Silicon Valley technologist Alan Kay....... Hard to believe HP's cutting him loose. But it is. According to the company, his research doesn't jibe with HP's new focus. 'I was surprised by [Alan] leaving,' said one HP Labs researcher who asked not to be identified. 'In the last year, he was kind of the poster child of the 'HP Invent' stuff, and now all of a sudden, he's not here anymore.'"